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The UFC is always sold as the place where the best fight the best. Unfortunately, if you believe certain fans over the years, some of the promotion's champions haven't agreed. We've seen numerous examples of UFC champions who were accused of ducking certain opponents, whether that was due to money, friendship, or other factors.
Whether these champions really were looking to avoid certain fights, we don't know for sure. However, at times, the evidence has been quite damning.
Here are five UFC champions who were accused of ducking certain opponents.
#5. Jon Jones - UFC heavyweight champion
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The latest champion to be accused of ducking a certain opponent is reigning heavyweight titleholder Jon Jones. 'Bones' has held his crown since early 2023, when he defeated Ciryl Gane, but he has yet to defend it.
In an ideal world, Jones would've faced off with former champion Stipe Miocic last November in what was labelled a "legacy fight". However, he picked up an injury, and that's where the issues began.
Rather than having Miocic fight for an interim title, the UFC instead put together a bout between rising contenders Tom Aspinall and Sergei Pavlovich. Aspinall duly won via knockout, which logically should've set up a unification fight with Jones.
In the months that have followed, though, 'Bones' has been unmoved. He has stated that he'll stick to the original plan of fighting Miocic despite both Aspinall and the fans pleading for the fight.
However, it was when Jones suggested he'd rather fight light-heavyweight titleholder Alex Pereira after Miocic, rather than Aspinall, that the talk of ducking started.
Whether Jones really is ducking Aspinall is debatable. It's more likely that he wants to maximize his pay in the twilight of his career and doesn't see the UK-based fighter as a big name.
Despite this, the fact that 'Bones' clearly seems to be avoiding a fight with Aspinall, regardless of his reasons, is more than frustrating for many fans.
#4. Germaine de Randamie - former UFC featherweight champion
The only champion in UFC history to be outright stripped of their title for ducking a certain opponent is inaugural women's featherweight titleholder Germaine de Randamie.
When the promotion introduced the division and title in early 2017, the idea was clearly to position Cris Cyborg - who had signed with them in 2016 - as the big star ahd champion.
However, when it came to the inaugural title fight, the Brazilian wasn't able to make the 145-pound limit on relatively late notice. Needing a headline bout for a pay-per-view, though, Dana White and company were unwilling to switch paths and put together a title fight between de Randamie and Holly Holm.
'The Iron Lady' won the title, albeit in controversial fashion due to some clearly illegal blows landed in the second and third rounds.
When it came to fighting Cyborg, though, the Dutchwoman was having none of it. She stated that she had no interest in facing the Brazilian due to her history with performance-enhancing drugs and effectively dared the promotion to strip her of the title.
White and company duly obliged, believing de Randamie was ducking Cyborg, and in the end, the Brazilian defeated Tonya Evinger for the vacant crown.
In this case, it was hard not to understand de Randamie's reasoning for avoiding the fight, but it definitely cost her nonetheless.
#3. Michael Bisping - former UFC middleweight champion
It'd probably be fair to label Michael Bisping as one of the most courageous fighters in UFC history. 'The Count,' who debuted in 2006, had to fight tooth and nail for a decade before receiving a title shot and often fell at the final hurdle.
Still, despite pulling off a miraculous middleweight title victory over Luke Rockhold on late notice, the UK favorite was still accused by some fans of ducking a top contender, namely Yoel Romero.
Bisping's title win came in the summer of 2016, and his first title defense itself led to some controversy. The 185-pound division was full of dangerous and talented fighters at that point, but the promotion instead gave the title shot to Dan Henderson.
At the time, 'Hendo' had won just two of his last five fights and was also 46 years old. However, he did have a historic rivalry with Bisping, and to that extent, the fight made sense.
'The Count' duly avenged his loss to Henderson in a wild decision win, and a month later, his next contender appeared to be cemented. Romero knocked out former titleholder Chris Weidman and then called Bisping out in menacing fashion.
Unfortunately for the Cuban, Bisping and the UFC had other ideas. Instead of setting up a fight with 'The Soldier of God', they pursued a fight between 'The Count' and former welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre.
Fans instantly claimed Bisping was ducking Romero, particularly when St-Pierre delayed the fight and 'The Count' chose to wait on him.
Realistically, though, the truth was probably that both Bisping and Dana White saw more money in pitting 'GSP' against the villainous Brit and didn't want to deviate from that path.
Still, that didn't stop some fans from labeling 'The Count' as a ducker, a label that some still hit him with to this day.
#2. Conor McGregor - former UFC lightweight champion
As we've seen, on many occasions, money rather than fear tends to lead to a UFC champion avoiding a certain opponent.
The promotion's financial system means that the more pay-per-views are sold, the more money a fighter can earn. Because of this, it makes sense for a champ to pursue a bigger-name opponent, often at the expense of someone more deserving.
That issue turned up tenfold when it came to Conor McGregor's reign as lightweight champion. 'The Notorious' was accused of ducking both Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson, both of whom were fantastic fighters with deserving resumes, during his reign.
The Irishman, though, refused to defend his title against either man and instead stepped away from the octagon altogether. Instead, McGregor had a far bigger name in his sights - legendary boxer Floyd Mayweather.
Despite Ferguson's famous calls for the Irishman to "defend or vacate", McGregor simply ignored the pleas and pursued Mayweather for a mega-money fight.
The fight - which saw Mayweather win via TKO - went down in the summer of 2017, and by the time McGregor returned over a year later, he'd been stripped of his title.
He did go onto fight Khabib, but never did face 'El Cucuy', meaning the accusations of ducking would never quite go away.
#1. Tito Ortiz - former UFC light-heavyweight champion
Perhaps no other UFC champion was accused of ducking an opponent more than former light-heavyweight kingpin Tito Ortiz. In some ways, it was hard not to agree with the accusations.
After all, 'The Huntington Beach Bad Boy' did appear to be doing everything in his power to avoid a title defense against top contender Chuck Liddell in 2003.
He demanded more money to face 'The Iceman', spoke of a pact that the two former friends had never to fight, and sat out the best part of a year after beating Ken Shamrock.
More damning was the fact that when Liddell lost an interim title fight to Randy Couture, Ortiz instantly returned to the fold to face 'The Natural' in a unification match, settling his beef with the promotion instantly.
However, it is worth taking a deeper look into the issue and seeing it from Ortiz's perspective.
In his mind, clearly, he saw Liddell as not only a former sparring partner but a close friend too. To 'The Huntington Beach Bad Boy', the amount of money he was being offered to face his friend wasn't enough.
To add to this, when he lost to Couture and it became apparent that the friendship didn't run quite so deeply for 'The Iceman', Ortiz was more than willing to face him. He did so twice in fact, despite losing badly on the first occasion.
Was there any truth to the stories that Ortiz wanted to avoid Liddell because he'd gotten the better of him in sparring, then? We'll honestly never know.
On the surface of things, then, it may have looked like Ortiz was ducking his friend, but scratch a little further below, and things were far more complicated than the fans - and the UFC - made out.
